History
The Map Collection was established as a special Library’s unit in 1945. Its items were collected through the singling out of cartographic material from the general Library’s holdings, legal deposit procedures, by bequests from distinguished individuals (B. Krčelić, the Patačić family, V. Gaj, M. Sabljar, R.Ž. Franjetić) as well as through individual and institutional donations.

Activities
The Collection assembles, preserves, processes and makes available all types of maps and atlases. Special attention is given to older and more valuable cartographic items, national cartographic materials and the control of legal deposit procedures. The members of the Collection supply users with information in the field of cartography and provide professional assistance for researchers and students in the preparation and writing of their papers, articles or theses.

Holdings
The Collection holds all types of maps – index, thematic and topographic maps of all scales, road maps and naval charts, historic maps and charts, manuscript maps, astronomical charts, and all types of atlases. The materials in the Collection have been systematically assembled and organized according to geographical areas. Over 70% of the Collection’s holdings refer to the area of the Central, South and South-East Europe. Half of the materials represent the areas of Croatia. The Collection also holds the reference library containing works in the field of cartography and specialized librarianship. The Collection comprises nearly 42,000 maps, almost 1,500 atlases, and approximately 600 books in the accompanying reference library.

Catalogues
The NUL Online Catalogue and NUL card catalogues include professional-regional, topographic and alphabetical catalogues of cartographic items and materials.

Use of materials
The materials in the Collection may only be used in the accompanying Reading Room where users may obtain all the necessary assistance, ranging from finding suitable reading to submitting request forms for specific items in the Collection. Copying the materials in the Collection is not allowed, except for copying individual leaves in more recent atlases and books in the reference library.

Cartographic materials in the Collection cannot be digitized for any purpose other than for the purposes of scientific work and research (e.g. digitization for other purposes (personal, commercial, etc.) is not allowed).